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The study led by Glasgow University's Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory focuses exclusively on suicide attempts and self-harm and is the first of its kind in the UK. A large sample of 3508 people between the ages of 18 and 34 from across Scotland answered questions on their mental health.

The research is a collaboration between the Universities of Glasgow, Stirling, Leeds and Nottingham.

Lead author Prof Rory O’Connor, Chair in Health Psychology and Director of the Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory at the University’s Institute of Health and Wellbeing, said: “Suicide attempts and non-suicidal self-harm are major public health concerns that affect large numbers of young people.

“Until now, there have been few studies that estimated how common these thoughts and behaviours were in young adults in the country.

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“These results are stark, and serve to highlight the scale of suicide attempts and self-harm in our country’s young people.

“The findings are timely given that the Scottish Government will soon publish a new suicide prevention action plan. We hope our findings also emphasise the importance to clinicians, and others involved in the care of young people, to be vigilant given that suicide attempts and self-harm are relatively common.”

The paper, ‘Suicide attempts and non-suicidal self-harm: national prevalence study of young adults’ is published in BJPsych Open .